Related Articles

Chester, 57, is serving a life sentence for raping and strangling seven-year-old Donna Gillbanks in 1977.

His case was heard by the Supreme Court earlier this year alongside a legal challenge from George McGeoch, 41, who bludgeoned and smothered a gay man before cutting his throat.

Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, was so concerned about the implications of the case that he chose to personally represent the government.

He said that the European courts are wrong to claim Britain's prisoner voting ban is illegal and have "failed to understand" the law in this country.

He told the Supreme Court that the cases raise "important constitutional questions" as he defended the right of Parliament, rather than the European Court of Human Rights, to decide whether the ban should be retained.

In a legal battle dating back to 2004, the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly ruled that a blanket ban on prisoner voting is incompatible with European law.

Ministers have drafted a bill which will offer MPs a range of options, including retaining the blanket ban. They are expected to vote overwhelmingly in favour of keeping the status quo.

Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed that inmates would not be given voting rights under his administration and has said that the idea of giving prisoners the vote makes him "sick".

Mr Grieve said: "It [the prisoner voting ban] does not catch persons who are convicted but are sentenced to a fine or community sentence; it excludes prisoners on remand and those in prison for contempt and for non-payment of fines. It only takes effect where a court considers that an offence is serious enough to merit imprisonment.

"In the UK, prison sentences are reserved for the most serious offences, so [the legislation] already built into it a filter which excludes minor offenders. Yet the court has made no attempt to consider this important part of analysis.

"It is submitted that the ECHR has failed properly to understand the operation of domestic law."